Cheap but utterly important: The fan belt

It’s purely a maintenance item. A new belt insures you that a worn, split and stretched one won’t break while driving leaving you stranded. Remember a serpentine belt turns all your accessories i.e.: water-pump, power steering, alternator and air conditioner compressor.

(All-in-one belt; serpentine belt and close look at cracked worn-out)

Most modern cars don’t use old-fashioned V-belts anymore. In the ’70s, as more and more cars were optioned with lots of power-hungry accessories running off the crankshaft pulley, it often became necessary to have as many as four V-belts, each running a different gizmo. There just isn’t room for that many belts and pulleys anymore—not to mention, this belt configuration means that it’s a service nightmare to replace just the inner belt by itself.

There are several advantages to the new style of serpentine belts. A single belt, winding its way through a forest of pulleys, can now drive every single engine accessory at the same time. A single belt only an inch or so wide saves 3 or 4 in. of engine room real estate. Better still: Most of the serpentine-belt installations use a spring-loaded tensioner pulley that keeps a constant preload on the belt, eliminating the need to adjust the tension. If you’ve ever needed three hands and a tire iron to pry an alternator away from the block while simultaneously tightening the adjustment bolt-and-nut combo, you’ll appreciate what a giant leap forward that is.

Fresh belt:Start by studying the old belt’s routing, which should be easy if the belt is still in place. But it’s probably not so easy to spot if the belt is wadded up next to the a/c compressor’s mounting bracket. There should be a belt-routing placard under the hood. If the car has had bodywork or been repainted, the placard might have been covered. Look in the owner’s manual; there’s usually a routing diagram. With a half-dozen pulleys to choose from, it’s possible, sometimes, to install the belt the wrong way. It might look right, but spinning the a/c compressor or water pump backwards isn’t good. If you need to, sketch the correct routing down before you remove the old belt. As a last resort, check the shop manual.

(Belt routing image)

How Be Forward supports you:

Out of enormous stock of automobile, we have a large database from which we can provide you with the correct item number of serpentine (or V-belts) belts for your automobile you have purchased from us. It is strongly recommended to replace your belts for the new one because it costs cheap but the benefits you can generate from it will be BIG!